Yuuki Chronicles
by LofA
Summary: A series of one-shots about Konno Yuuki, the girl who had happiness in spite of loss, disease, and death. AU
1. Life In Death

**Author's Notes:** Ever since I've watched the Mother's Rosario arc in the anime, Yuuki has become one of my favorite characters in the series. So one day I got a bunch of ideas for a one-shot with her, so I just decided to write a series of one-shots about her. This here is the first. A little context: this takes place in SAO, I always thought it would be an interesting idea to have Yuuki in the death game rather than in ALO. So without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

 **Life in Death**

In the light of the rising sun, Yuuki danced with the practice dummies. Her waster—a wooden blade—struck at their wooden bodies with force, as her feet tangoed to a rhythm of cracks and controlled breathing. A feint, a thrust, a roll under the enemy's arm, and a cut to the now exposed back. She pressed the attack, and two more slashes followed. Never stop when momentum was on your side. She finished with a blow to the dummy's head that was strong enough to decapitate it had she been using her combat longsword.

There was no time to celebrate though.

A quick survey of her surroundings showed many other dummies willing to join in this disco. In a real fight, she could trust her teammates to watch her back as she dispatched one mob after another. But here she was simulating an event where she was surrounded and alone. The key was the same as in any other situation: always keep moving. And kept moving she did, never staying in one place for more than a second, making sure not to her back open to anyone. She felt the wind rush against her face in her movements; she must have been a blur to anyone watching. This was the joy in fighting, where instincts take over and your body acted faster than your mind could think.

She felt unbeatable. Unkillable.

Then she tripped, her feet catching each other in a twist. The ground met her with redemption.

"Ouch," she said, picking herself up. Dust caked her face and she brushed them off with a swipe of her hand.

That was clumsy of her, she thought and laughed. But better she learns from her mistakes now than out in the field, where it truly would be a matter of life and death. A quick replay in her mind of the maneuver she had been trying to perform showed her where she went wrong, and then she dropped back to her guard and the dance resumed.

Time was abstract as Yuuki struck, parried, and struck again. She could do this all day—and not just because her virtual body permitted her to have limitless stamina—for there was an intrinsic peace she could feel only through the cuts of her blade and her own sheer competence. She was alive in this world, whereas restricted in the other by disease and weakness. And though these wooden dummies proved to be no challenging foes they were apt partners whose company Yuuki enjoyed whenever released from the duty of being a clearer.

"It's not a surprise that I would find you here at this spot at 6 AM in the morning," said a voice, whose owner Yuuki had failed to notice arrive in the training zone.

She stopped amidst delivering a blow, startled, almost dropping her sword. She smiled when she realized who it was that had spoken.

"Good morning, Asuna-nee!" she said.

"Morning, Yuuki." The second-in-command of the Knights of the Blood Oath responded with a smile of her own. "You should've been more aware so that I didn't startled you. That could have meant your death in a real fight."

"Yeah hehe, that's something I've been trying to work on lately." Yuuki dusted off the dirt accumulated on her during her training session.

"Peripheral vision is the key. If you only focus on the target in front of you, you might get caught off-guard by something else," Asuna explained.

"I bet you use your peripheral vision a lot to check out a certain black-haired boy, don't you, Asuna-nee?" Yuuki said, flashing that infamous grin of hers.

A blush came on the Flash's face. "I don't know what you're talking about. Shouldn't you get back to training?"

Yuuki giggled at her superior's embarrassment. She turned to face off the dummies once more, but then stopped and faced Asuna again. "Won't you train with me, Asuna-nee?"

"I'm not in gear."

Whereas Asuna was only wearing a simple set of tunic and trousers, Yuuki was donned in the full harness typical of a KoB member; cuirass, gauntlets, sabatons, greaves, all in the shades of the red and white colour of the guild. It was her belief that one should train fully armoured in order to accustomed to its weight when moving.

"That's alright I can take mine off and we'll have a duel. It's been forever since I last had one," she said.

Asuna paused to think and then walked over to the weapons rack, picking up a waster of her own—a lighter, straight wooden sword. That told Yuuki of her answer and she began unequipping her armour, leaving only a set of purple chemise and brown breeches. They took up positions opposite each other on the training field, which was half the size of a football pitch. The KoB had to spend quite a sum of Cols in order to obtain the compound for the guild's headquarters.

"Are you sure you don't want to warm up first, Asuna-nee?" Yuuki asked.

"Battle waits for no one, Yuuki. I'm always as ready as I can get," the Flash replied.

A duel request popped up in front of Yuuki; it was to half-health. Since they were only using wooden blades and not actual steel, there were in no risk of accidentally killing each other and thus were in no need to adhere to the first strike duel rule. She hit the Accept button and a sixty second timer materialized at the top right of her HUD.

She dropped into her guard, longsword forward, while her feet in a semi-wide stance. She watched her opponent, who adopted a guard with the blade stretching forward while the other shoulder hung back, hips facing perpendicular to her target. The look on the Flash's face was one of utter focus. Knowing Asuna, Yuuki fully expected her to take this fight seriously. There was not the slightest hint of doubt in those hazel eyes of hers.

Three.

Two.

One.

The countdown hit zero and a loud blaring sound signaled the start of the duel. Yuuki rushed forward, reaching with her blade. The parry from Asuna was swift and the riposte came right after. Not having fully committed to the previous attack, Yuuki dodged it easily. The beginning stages of any fight was to prod for weaknesses before going in.

She stepped right and cut at the head. Asuna pullbacked, her sandals scraped against the ground. The swords clashed and Yuuki pressed forward. She swatted aside her opponent's blade after noticing its weak position, grasping for the opportunity to gain first blood. She stamped forward, heavy blows swinging to the desperate parries of Asuna. Then Asuna sidestepped and when Yuuki turned to face her, the light of the morning sun blinded her. That moment of distraction was enough for her opponent, and a sharp counter thrust took her in the throat. She stumbled back and Asuna struck two more times before she managed to roll out of range.

Her health bar had dipped by a small amount. Had it been a real blade, the consequences would have been direr.

"You didn't use a sword skill there, did you?" Yuuki asked.

"If it had been a sword skill you would have seen it a mile away."

"It was so fast I couldn't see it coming."

Asuna smiled. "That's because you tunneled vision on hitting me so much, you didn't see where I was leading you. Like I said, peripheral vision is the key," she said. "Plus, they don't call me the Flash for no reason."

Yuuki grinned. "Then I'll show you why they call me Absolute Sword."

She struck again, this time more cautious of committing too much. Asuna must have realized her tendency to rush in and had used that against her. Yuuki reminded herself that this wasn't Godfree she was facing. The use of such tactics which she had not even think to use made it no wonder how her opponent came to be the Knights of the Blood Oath's chief strategist. If Yuuki wanted to win, she was going to need to be a lot more patient.

Perhaps sensing the younger player's hesitation, Asuna rushed forward. Her blade—a blur—forced Yuuki to backpedal. A sense of panic rose within her as she bided her time to make a counter. But there was no slowing of the attacks, the Flash's form perfect. Blow after blow came, slowly whittling away her health bar by the miniscule until, so fed up with being on the defensive, she barreled forward, her shoulder catching Asuna in the abdominal, knocking the wind out of her. She threw an uppercut that connected to the side.

Asuna rolled out of the way, now being the one of the defensive. Yuuki followed up, struck hard and fast. But a swift parry and riposted forced her to retreat. She had not expected the parry; the Flash having regained her feet much quicker than she thought.

"How's that for a little payback?" Yuuki said, grinning.

"That tackle took me by surprise," Asuna admitted.

"Yeah, I figured playing cautious wasn't my fighting style so I just kicked it all out the window. Worked out great, didn't it?"

"We'll see," said Asuna and struck again. Their blades met and scraped against each other, locked at the crossguard. "We have some spectators by the way it seems."

Yuuki saw a small group of other KoB members gathered on the outskirt of the field watching them, pointing and gesturing. "We must have woken them with all this noise hehe."

She broke the deadlock, let her longsword soaked the attack of the smaller sword with its weight, then cut low. Asuna deflected it and struck high. Yuuki ducked, used her momentum to roll forward, and performed a backcut. A maneuver like that was easily countered by a fighter as experienced as Asuna, but Yuuki had intended it as a feint. She kicked out at the legs, tripped her, and did a spinning slash. The blow crushed through the feeble parry, but only managed to connect to Asuna's arm rather than the head where she had intended.

The spin brought Yuuki off-balance, and the Flash was quick to capitalize. She got to her feet, grabbed Yuuki's sword-hand, and hammered the hilt of her weapon into her face. Disoriented, Yuuki threw out a punch of her own and by sheer luck landed. The hit staggered Asuna, and both players used this opportunity to regroup and reset, retreating and leaving some distance between them.

More KoB members had showed up to the field and were in heavy debate about who would win. There were chants for the Flash, but they did not dwarf the chants for Absolute Sword as well. Yuuki smiled at the thought.

"Let's give them a show, shall we?" Yuuki said.

"A show of your defeat, yes." Asuna darted forward.

Yuuki parried the lunge, checked herself before lunging as well. She laughed when that attack was deflected. "I see you're very confident in yourself, Asuna-nee."

"Do you usually talk this much when fighting?"

A quick thrust didn't give Yuuki the time to respond. She sidestepped to her right, directly into Asuna's roundhouse kick that caught her in the head. She tumbled, got a palm on the ground and pushed, handspringing back to her feet. Cheers erupted from the spectating crowd, but Yuuki tuned them out for she had to focus on her opponent. At this point of the duel, Asuna had scored more hits and while Yuuki had dealt a fair sum of damage herself, she doubted that if things went on the way it did she would win.

They circled each other for a moment before Yuuki rushed in, longsword swinging. Asuna ducked under, blocked the knee Yuuki threw next, but then yelped in surprise as the younger girl grappled her. Being of a higher STR build, Yuuki had the advantage if it came to a brawl. She dropped her longsword, locked Asuna's weapon-arm, twisted it till she released her blade, and then pommeled the Flash's face with a series of punches.

Asuna threw herself to the ground, taking Yuuki with her. The impact loosened the armbar, and Asuna used this opportunity to get free. She rolled her lower body upwards, kicking Yuuki in the abdominal with both legs. Yuuki rolled off her and saw Asuna scramble for her weapon. She did the same.

But the Flash was quicker.

Just as Yuuki picked up her longsword, she saw Asuna's sword flashed a bright pink. A Sword Skill. There was no time to retreat. The first three thrusts came at unnatural speed, hitting Yuuki in the chest as she desperately brought her guard up to defend. She stumbled back, but then realized the combo was not over. Two slashes followed at her now exposed legs for her guard was up high. Yuuki fell to her knees. A jab to her abdominal and a jab to her head came next. Her defense was all but shattered at this point and the blows connected without impunity. The final strike—a powerful thrust to the chest—brought her health bar below the halfway point.

The crowd—which had by now grown to probably include everyone that was present in the KoB headquarter compound—erupted in thunderous applause and cheers. Yuuki stared at the bright flashing display in the air above her, longsword hanging limp by her side.

 **WINNER: ASUNA**

The realization that she had lost settled, and a sense of disappointment welled up in her. But then that sense was gone, pushed to the back of her mind like it was nothing, for winning was not what she'd cared about. She was just happy to have faced a worthy opponent, one who was stronger than she was. If there was one thing that Yuuki had learned in her young life, it was that there would always be defeats; it was how you take those defeats that determined how victorious you'll be.

She skipped her way towards Asuna, a bright smile on her face. "That was so fun, Asuna-nee! Let's do it again some time."

The Flash responded with a smile of her own. "Yes, we should. You really did force me to use everything I got."

Yuuki tilted her head, pleased with the compliment. "That last Sword Skill you used. I've never seen anything like it! A 8-hit Combo!"

Asuna laughed embarrassedly. "Yeah, I've just recently learnt it. You really were something to have made me used it."

"My last gamble to bring you to submission didn't quite work, but I'm happy to lose to something as amazing as that," Yuuki said with a laugh. She wondered if there was Sword Skill that had a higher hit-combo than the one Asuna performed. "I guess I've had enough training for today."

The two of them then headed towards the edge of the field. As they approached the awaiting crowd, Yuuki saw players exchanging money probably through bets they had placed on who would win. There were some disappointed face, but overall everyone seemed glad to have witnessed such an epic fight. They shouted their approval as both she and Asuna reached them. Yuuki flashed a large grin at them, and was quick to receive pats on the back despite her defeat.

"I think it's safe to say we have two of the most talented fighters in all of Aincrad," said one tall man. He had grey hair, but a strong chiseled face and he commanded the attention of the others as he spoke. The KoB members roared their agreement.

"Thank you, sir. It means a lot for you to say that," said Asuna, clearly embarrassed by the compliment from the guild leader.

"It was a contrast of two distinct fighting styles. Asuna, with her careful methodical approach, and Yuuki, with her aggressive upfront reckless abandon," Heathcliff said. "In the battlefield, there's a place for both; a cautious style to minimalize losses and an assertive one to create opportunities out of thin air. You two have done great. I hope the others here will follow your examples."

Another round of applause came. Yuuki, ever the jovial one, basked in it with glee. She turned to Asuna. "Thank you for that, Asuna-nee. I see I still have much to learn from you. Hehe."

"And I from you too," Asuna said. "Don't ever change, Yuuki. Not for anyone or anything that Kayaba throws at us in this world."

Yuuki threw her arms around the older girl, wrapping it tightly. The move surprised Asuna, but after a moment of hesitation, she returned the embrace. And to everyone who had been watching, they seemed like sisters.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** The main premise of this idea was to repeat the duel between Yuuki and Asuna in SAO, where Asuna the Flash would be at her prime. Personally, I hated what became of Asuna's character after the SAO arc, so I sought to bring her back to her strongest point which was in the death game. As you can tell by how this one-shot played out, I personally think Asuna in her prime would be able to beat Absolute Sword. Asuna, to me, is the type of person who if they have a sure goal in mind would be able to focus solely on that goal and nothing could stop them. In SAO, Asuna's goal was to complete the game and she has strive to be strongest there is as a result.

Anyway, enough about Asuna. About Yuuki, what I was trying to portray her here is simply as a girl who somehow is happy to find happiness in a world of danger and death. She doesn't let disappointment get her down easily and always has a positive attitude. This is true to canon as she is seen as always happy despite the disease she has. Overall, it was fun writing this story with her in it, and I've got two more one-shots planned out. They're not set in SAO, but rather in ALO and the real world. Won't spoil anything else other than that.

One promise I'd like to make though is that I'll update within the next four days. I've lately been learning how to set and meet self-imposed deadlines, so this is a good opportunity for me keep to that discipline.

Hope you enjoyed this short story, do review if you please.


	2. Names On Stone

**Author's Notes:** I'm two days late on my four day update promise. My excuse is that I had to rewrite the whole thing because I didn't like the first draft. This second draft was done in one day. This particular one-shot is set in ALO and explores an idea which I find interesting and not touch upon by many fics.

* * *

 **Names On Stone**

Three hundred feet tall. Two hundred more wide. Dark, polished pillars supporting the ceiling. Metallic chandeliers adorning the interior. Daunting. Imposing. Magnificent. These were the words that came to the mind of Yuuki every time she respawned inside the Black Iron Palace. But today, as she pushed herself up to sit, she could not think of those words. She could only think of her defeat at the hands of the Floor boss. They had failed yet again.

She looked around her. None of the others had respawned. That was a given; she was the first go down and could only watch the rest of the fight as her Remain Light faded. The Sleeping Knights did not fare well without their leader. It was all her fault for being so reckless. Now some major guild would come in and finish the boss, and they would have to wait till the next floor to accomplish their goal.

Their goal. What was their goal again? Right, it was to have their names engraved on the Monuments of Swordsmen. At this point, they had failed so many times that Yuuki had to remind herself what their goal was because it seemed so far away.

She stood, her boots meeting the marbled floor with a loud click. She glanced back at the spot where she had resurrected, then shook her head. It would be some time before the others came, until then she decided she needed to see one thing.

Ever since the release of New Aincrad in ALO, the iron palace had been changed to better serve the needs of the non-death game MMO. Whereas it had been used as a prison in the original game, keeping all players who committed a crime—stealing, harassing, or at the very worse, killing—locked up, it was now retooled to be the respawn point of all those who died in the floating castle. One of the new feature was the inclusion of the Monument of Swordsmen, where the names of all those who helped defeat a Floor Boss were inscribed on a large tablet to glorify their achievement.

The room which held the monument was over twenty meters wide and as many tall. Stained glass windows brought light into the interior. The ceiling was of a conical shape, where a large mural of proud warriors facing off against dragons, beasts, and demons was painted. The tablet itself was at the far end, stretching over ten meters. Yuuki walked towards it, drawn to it.

When the Sleeping Knights had first logged into this world, they had decided that it would be their last. The clock was ticking for her, for all of them, and she did not want it to end it all without one last great memory. And it could not be just a memory that they shared but something that everyone would know as well. The guild who defeated a Floor Boss by themselves. Could you imagine that?

She placed her hand on the surprisingly smooth black stone, running her fingers along the names engraved on it, feeling the indentures and crevices. Only a quarter of the tablet was filled, the rest of it blank. Would the Sleeping Knights' names be here one day, she wondered, immortalized? Or were they doomed to be forgotten? Like they never existed to begin with. The distance they've come, the hardship they've endured, the battles they've had to fight…just to live, was it all for nothing?

A tear rolled down her cheek and her eyes felt wet, but she held back from crying. She'd cried enough when her mother died, and when her sister as well. She would not cry now. "Please, give me strength, God," she whispered. Her fist clenched, and she punched the tablet, the sound echoing throughout the large hall.

"Woah, what are you doing?" a voice cried out. A moment later, a Gnome player with brown eyes and leather-tanned face showed himself from behind the tablet.

Yuuki jumped back, startled. "Sorry! I thought I was the only one in the room," she quickly apologized, bowing sincerely.

The player shook his head in disapproval, running a hand through his thick hair. "So you normally punch pieces of stone when no one is looking?"

Yuuki's cheeks flushed. "No, I was just…frustrated with something."

"Well, take your frustration out somewhere else. This isn't the place," the Gnome said, hands on hips.

"I'm sorry, I'm not myself." Yuuki turned to leave but then paused. She looked at the stranger, who glared back at her, and a thought occurred to her. "Actually, why were you hiding behind there in the first place?"

At that, the expression on the player's face lightened up, as if he had been waiting for her to ask him that question the whole time. "Come here and I'll show you," he said, walking to the back of the tablet again.

Curiosity beat out caution after a moment of hesitation, and Yuuki followed. This area was still a Safe Zone and she was in no risk of being ambushed.

Her eyes widened as she took in what was before her.

There was a wooden replica of the monument, almost the exact height and length of the original. The engraved writing also of the exact font. Yuuki glanced at the Gnome and wondered if he did this, and if so, why. But then she took a closer look at the names carved into surface of the board, and she noticed they were different from the ones on stone. What's more, there were time dates next to each individual name.

"What is this?" she asked.

The player picked up a hook knife from the set of carving tools laid out all over the floor and cut out some splinters sticking out of the wood. "The Monument of Life," he said. "I'm sure you know what that is."

Yuuki nodded. "In the original death game, all ten thousand players' names were inscribed on it. And every time someone dies, their name automatically crossed out."

"And as you know, it got replaced with the Monument of Swordsmen when New Aincrad released," the Gnome said. "You can probably guess what I'm doing."

"You're recreating it?"

"That's right. Except only with the names of those who died. There's still a lot to be done before it's finished, but a while ago I got permission to access some of Aincrad's old database and managed to get the information I need. I was just taking a small break when you walked in here and started punching things."

Yuuki felt another surge of embarrassment at her earlier outburst. "Sorry," she apologized again. "But why are you doing this?"

It took several moments before she got an answer. "I feel that for those of us who've survived to the end of the death game, it is important to recognize those who did not."

"You were in the death game?" Yuuki asked.

The player nodded. "I was. And I have many friends' names inscribed over here." He ran his hand over the flat of the wood. His eyes turned glossy for a moment before returning to its original hue.

Yuuki felt for the man and she gave him a smile. "I've lost people who I loved as well." Her mother. Her sister Aiko. Her friend Merida."

"Then you can understand why I am doing this," he said, returning the smile. He turned to his work-in-progress. "The people whose names are here, while they may have not made it to the end of the game, they will still be remembered by family, and friends they've made. I wonder what they would think now that this floating castle is no longer what it once was."

"You're a good man for doing this," Yuuki said.

"I don't care if I'm good for doing this. I'm just doing what I think is right for these people's sakes. Their lives were cut short by something tragic; if this monument here would remind even one person of that fact, I'm glad to have spent all this energy on it."

That last line struck a chord within Yuuki. While the Sleeping Knights' time were cut short, it was not over yet. There was still hope until the end. She would keep trying until they accomplished their goal. For it was worth it, to have their names forever engraved, a proof to everyone that the Sleeping Knights had lived.

"Thank you so much for showing me this," she said.

The Gnome waved her off. "Just don't go punching it okay?"

Yuuki laughed at that. "I won't. Not until it's done at least."

"Anyway, I need to get back to work." He picked up the rest of his carving kit before opening up his virtual menu, presumably to check on the next name to be written.

She wished him luck on his work, then headed back to resurrection hall to wait for the others to spawn. There was much work to be done before the next Boss fight. Evaluate what went wrong in the last fight. Recognize the mistakes. Develop a new strategy. When the next floor opened, the guild would have to obtain new gear also. Maybe they needed some help as well. A seventh member perhaps?

But even with all these in mind, Yuuki couldn't help but her usual optimism returning after her dark mood.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** What I was going for in this one-shot is that I just thought it would awesome to see what happens when a player decides to create memorial for those who died in the death game. Also it gives me a chance to explore a more vulnerable side of Yuuki. No one is happy and optimistic 24/7, there certainly are times where they feel down; often it's when no one is around, do they really express their frustration.

Nothing much else to say about this one because it is just a simple idea. I did plan on including more of the other Sleeping Knights members but that plan went out the window when I did my rewrite.

Onto the next chapter it is. My goal for these Chronicles is to see how much I can produce until I simply burn out of ideas.


	3. Will You?

**Author's Notes:** So this is not originally the one-shot I wanted to write, but then in the spirit of Valentine's Day I've decided to go ahead and see what I can come up with within an hour. This is the end result. This takes place in an alternate world where the death game never happened and Yuuki was completely healthy. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

 **Will You?**

She was the girl who everyone in school likes; athletic, jovial, social. He was the loner upperclassman who always spent his lunchtime by himself. On occasions, they would see each other as they walked down the same hallway, but otherwise did not pay much attention to one another. They had never spoken and possibly never will have, had they not found themselves staying back afterschool for cleanup duties whilst everyone else left.

"It's Kirigaya Kazuto-sempai, isn't it?" Yuuki asked.

The storage room they were in was stuffed with boxes containing old equipment, stacked up upon each other with a dangerous lack of care. Yuuki had came to retrieve a mop when she ran into the skinny upperclassman. He almost jumped in surprise when she spoke, nearly tripping over a crate of computer hardware.

He nodded after recovering. "Yes, it is."

"I'm Yuuki. Nice to meet you!" She smiled, extending her hand. After a moment of hesitation, he took it. His touch was soft, feminine like, and he gave a nervous smile in return.

The next time she saw him was several days later in the school's computer lab. The blinds of the windows were shut, shrouding the room with near darkness. He sat at a far corner, headphones on, focused intensely on his monitor, the sound of his monotonous typing resonating like a mindless drone. Yuuki walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, it's you," he said.

"What you doing?" she asked.

"I'm working on a Top-Down AI that would be able to learn through its own experience, perhaps even mimic human behavior. It's for an upcoming tech competition I'm taking part in," he explained.

"Ah," Yuuki said. She understood none of what he said. "Good luck."

She saw his name come up in the school newspaper two weeks later, having the top prize in an interschool competition for his AI program YUI which could process data and respond in human-like ways. A quote from the article said that the sixteen-year-old next plan to create a physical body for YUI to use so that it may be able to interact with the world just like a regular human being would. It also says that some experts in this field were interested in meeting with the bright individual.

"You should ask him out," her sister Aiko said when she told her about Kazuto.

Her face flushed. "W-What? No."

"Why else are you telling me about him?"

"I just thought it's pretty awesome what he has accomplished."

"Mm-hm." Aiko smirked. Yuuki threw a pillow at her.

Though she did wonder whether the prodigious boy had a girlfriend. She doubted it, for she had not even seen him with one friend let alone with a significant other. Now that she thought about it, there was actually very little that she knew about him. With that in mind, she decided she would find out more about Kirigaya Kazuto.

"Why don't we exchange numbers?" she asked.

"Huh?" Kazuto said. They had run into each other in a hallway between classes. Around them, other students nonchalantly made their way to their next period, chattering amongst themselves.

"Why don't we exchange numbers? It'll be nice if we can contact each other."

"O-Oh okay."

She gave him her number. It was painfully obvious that he had never got a girl's number before, judging by his reaction. "Umm. Give me a miss call so I can get yours as well?" she said.

"Oh right. Sorry."

They spent the next few nights messaging each other back and forth. At first the conversation was stale and stagnant, with Yuuki doing most of the talking. Eventually, Kazuto began to feel more comfortable talking with her and started adding more to his responses besides the generic. She found out that he had a younger sister her age, computing had been his interest ever since he got his first PC, and that he was an avid video gamer just like her. They made it a point to play a MMO together.

Her friends asked her who she was texting so much these days and she told them they were surprised. "Who? I don't think I've seen him before. Why didn't you tell us you're in a relationship?"

"No, I'm not in a relationship. He's just a nice guy to talk to," she said. Though deep within her, she wondered if that was what she really thought.

The days went by, and eventually both Yuuki and Kazuto found themselves on cleanup duties again afterschool. They greeted each when they met at the storage room again.

"Come on, I'll help you with your homeroom, and you help me with mine. We'll get it done faster that way," Kazuto said with a smile.

She took that offer gladly and for the next hour, they dusted, swept, mopped the rooms. It was tiring work, but Yuuki found herself at peace with a boy who just a month ago she had barely knew. Strange how things had changed since then. When they'd finished, they returned the cleaning equipment and headed to collect their bags before leaving school.

At the gate, Yuuki tapped Kazuto on the shoulder. "Hey, it's Valentine's tomorrow."

Kazuto raised his eyebrows. "Oh is it? In all honesty, I forgot about it."

Yuuki laughed at that. That was so of him. "It is."

"You must have lots of guys asking you out," he said.

"I do, but I turned them down. Most of the guys I know, I just don't see them in a romantic way. Except for one," she said. Her gaze averted from him.

"One?"

"You. It's you," she blurted it out and before he could respond she continued, "So, I was hoping…" Her heart beat faster as nerves threatened to overtake her, but then she forced herself to calm down. Her sister's words came to her mind again and she took a deep breath before asking. "Will you be my Valentine's?"

For a while he did not say anything, but then he smiled. And she thought it was beautiful smile.

He said, "Yes."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Spending Valentine's writing a romance fanfic, hmmmm not sure if that's sad or alright lol. But I guess it's still quite constructive.


End file.
